Gettin' Jolly: Holiday Corner

Ken and I decided that we wanted this holiday season to be our first together alone as a couple. That means that neither of us will be traveling to see our parents - and that we'll be creating new traditions of our own.

For me, this is both scary and exciting. So to help myself along, I'll be showing off on Busy Beaver.

Last year I remember preparing for our travels and panicking to get everything ready. To avoid the stress this year, I decided to start very early. And now, a solid 13 days in advance, our in-home decorating is all done!

Because we live in a pretty small apartment, we have limited space for our tree. Fortunately, my mom gave me a little tree last year that came with lights already on it. I put on a second string of lights (Beaver orange!) and loaded ALL of our ornaments on it. It looks to be bursting at the seams.

I also set out a vase of poinsettias, hung the stockings and completed all of my gift shopping and wrapping. Ken did, too; now we both have a bunch of pretty gifts to ponder for a couple of weeks.

I'll admit, I felt homesick when I turned on some of my favorite holiday music and decorated the tree alone this year. Most of my ornaments are handmade by my mom. As I placed each on the tree, I thought about how much love went into the making of this scene ... and into each of the Christmases I've spent with my family until now. I really hope that, should I have children someday, I can give them an equally fun holiday season.

This little scene is just the beginning of my holiday marathon. I have a lot more that I am excited to do in the coming weeks!

I'm in stores!

I'm not going to lie - I've been one VERY busy beaver! I've been just crocheting my fingers off, but for a very good reason. Mod Pod Decor is selling some of my handmade hats in their store here in Corvallis! Woo hooooo! Here is a flood of pictures of the hats I made for them:

I wonder if I'll start seeing some of my own designs on the heads of people around town. Wouldn't that be neat?

Let's Celebrate: Halloween!

My friends and I had the most fun Halloween!

I hosted a party at my house complete with tons of decorations and a photo booth.

We ate some yummy homemade soup and watched some 90's Disney Halloween movies that we watched growing up.

We only had two trick-or-treat parties come by - lots of leftover candy for us!

Here are the pictures that we took in the photo booth. :)

I am so lucky to have excellent friends who will share a Wednesday Halloween being silly with me!

Newsprint Nails

I love cutepolish's designs. If you like nail stuff, seriously, check her videos out! She explains how to do really cute nails in a very easy and clear way.

I recently tried this how-to:

SO easy!!

Instead of using light gray nail polish, I went for China Glaze Inner Beauty - a sheer pink.

Also, instead of dipping my nails in the rubbing alcohol, I dipped a cotton ball into the rubbing alcohol, placed the newspaper on my finger, and held the cotton ball on top.

Ta-da!

My right-hand thumb is my favorite. It says, "GOSH"

I've seen this technique done with maps before, so maybe I'll try that soon!

Pushpin & Yarn Tree

As my apartment goes, one of my priorities is to make sure that everything is well-decorated and interesting. But because I like my space to reflect its inhabitants, this is a long process. I've been here a year and I'm nowhere near done!

But today I checked a project off my to-do list that has been there for about a year: imitate this cool piece of art.

(Click image for original post)

My bathroom has a lot of trees, birds, and cool colors - so I decided to make a small version of this tree in there.

My weapons.

My land to be conquered.

Watch my tree grow!

Done!

I love how this fills up the space - and how the reflection looks in the mirror!

Plus, now some of my vinyl birds have a place to nest. :)

The Neat Things We Do At School

One of my favorite parts about OSU is the variety of ideas, cultures, and beliefs that are offered to students. Every day there is something new to see and do, just around.

The other day, just around was this group that was urging students to participate in working on this community painting.

They were a religious group, but they weren't trying to drive membership. Instead, they were trying to bring attention to Portland's sex trafficking problem and urge students to get involved in the process of making it a priority in our state government.

Sure, they had information on-hand about that their group was about and some of their upcoming events.

But they were mostly just trying to get students to think about what it means to be a part of their community - at OSU, in Corvallis, in the state of Oregon ... in the world.

And I admire and appreciate that - because what are we all trying to accomplish but to figure out what this crazy life thing is all about?

TFiOS Nails

Along with the many other things I enjoy, I love messing around with my nails. I'm not very good at it, but once in a while I feel like I do something that isn't half bad.

Today, The Fault in Our Stars inspired me.

Here's the book's cover:

And my nails:

Yay! Now, the challenge will be to not indulge my nervous habit of picking off my polish... ;)